BSTJ 1: 1. July 1922: Foreword.

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The Bell System Technical Journal

Devoted to the Scientific and Engineering Aspects
of Electrical Communication

EDITORIAL BOARD

J. J. Carty Bancroft Gherardi F. B. Jewett

E. B. Craft L. F. Morehouse O. B. Blackwell

H. P. Charlesworth E. H. Colpitts

R. W. King— £di for

Published quarterly by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company,

through its Information Department, in behalf of the Western Electric

Company and the Associated Companies of the Bell System

Address all correspondence to the Editor

Information Department

AMERICAN TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH COMPANY

195 BROADWAY, NEW YORK, N. Y.

Copyright, 1922. Application for Second Class Matter Pending

50c. Per Copy «■«> Per Year

Vol. I • JULY, 1922 No. 1

FOREWORD

MODERN industry is characterized by the extent to which
scientific research and technique based on precise study have
contributed to its progress. So complete has been the adaptation
of arid reliance on scientific research in many industries that it is
difficult at this time to visualize the state of affairs of two or three
decades ago, when substantially all industry on its technical .side was
dependent for advancement on cut-and-try, rule-of-thumb, methods
of development. Today in many industries the management would
not think of embarking on a new project without consulting their
research engineers.

Many industries have proved the benefits to be derived from the
utilization of that organized knowledge provided both in the fields
of the physical sciences and in those newer fields which have to do
with psychology and economics. There are still greater numbers of
industrial organizations where the adoption of scientific methods has
been slow. However, the time will undoubtedly come when every in-
dustry will recognize the aid it can derive from scientific research
in some form as it now recognizes its dependence for motive power
on steam or electricity rather than on muscular activity.

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2 BELL SYSTEM TECHNICAL JOURNAL

Upwards of one hundred years ago there was adopted in earnest
by scientific men, principally in university laboratories, the program
of searching deeper into the unknown, to discover new principles and
new relationships of a kind which had at the time very little apparent
practical interest to mankind as a whole.

Out of this work, and in time, have grown entirely new industries.
From the fact that these industries sprang directly from the research
laboratory, it was inevitable that they should be conspicuous because
of the number of their men trained in the methods of scientific re-
search. Equally inevitable was it that these new fields of endeavor,
originating as they did and being staffed as they were, should be the
ground where industrial research would find its first and largest
development. And not the least of the advantages which obtained
in these newer industries was the absence of age-long traditions tend-
ing to ultra-conservatism as to new undertakings, and more par-
ticularly as to the employment of the new types of mind.

The results up to the present indicate clearly that the electrical
and chemical fields in industry as we know them today, are the places
where the greatest advances have been made in the utilization of
research methods and research men. Other,, older and more basic
industries are rapidly following the general path marked out by the
successes already obtained in these fields. Hence, it is expected that
shortly all industrial activities will be based on the results obtained
by trained investigators, using the tools of modern scientific in-
vestigation.

Just as applied electricity is a leading exemplar of the benefits to
be obtained by an intelligent use of scientific knowledge, so electrical
communication of intelligence is a leading exemplar in the field of
applied electricity. This branch of applied electricity is a pioneer
among those recognizing the practical value of scientific research.
It is interesting to note that electrical communication is credited
with having organized a research laboratory prior to the first university
course in electrical engineering.

More than ever before, the communication engineer must seek
exact solutions of his problems. If his results do not always attain
the certainty he desires, the reason is the absence of complete knowl-
edge with regard to one or more essential facts. But true knowledge
of what things limit the solution of a problem is frequently more
than half the battle of obtaining the missing facts. Sometimes these
unknown facts can be obtained by a search through the remoter
parts of the vast scientific storehouses which have been built in times
past. Frequently, however, -the search discloses the entire absence

FOREWORD 3

of the thing sought for, and new researches are begun with definite
ends in view. Thus it has come about that the communication
engineer has become an original investigator and is extending the
boundaries of human knowledge and supplementing the advances of
pure science to find solutions for his various and sundry problems.

Hence, while well equipped physical and chemical laboratories are
still a necessary part of the communication engineer's equipment, he
is equally active in pushing his investigations in many other direc-
tions. Questions involved in the making of proper rate schedules and
adequate fundamental plans for new construction are originating
profound researches in such fields as political science, psychology and
mathematics. A casual examination of recent technical literature
dealing with electrical communication would show articles which
touch upon almost every branch of human activity, which we designate
as science.

With this intense and growing interest in the proper application of
scientific methods to the solution of the problems of electrical com-
munication, it is natural that a widespread desire should have arisen
for a technical journal to collect, print or reprint, and make readily
available the more important articles relating to the field of the com-
munication engineer. These articles are now appearing in some
fifteen or twenty periodicals scattered throughout the world and in
the majority of instances receive their first and last printing in these
widely separated mediums. The need already felt for such a journal
will grow keener as new developments extend the scope of the art and
the specialization of its engineers of necessity increases. It is hoped
that the Bell System Technical Journal will fill this need, and
as implied above, it is intended that the range of subjects treated in
the Journal will be as broad as the science and technique of electrical
communication itself. .

While many of the articles which will appear in the Journal will
be original presentations of some phase of the research or develop-
ment or other technical work of the Bell System, it is not intended
that the Journal should be the sole means by which this work is
presented. Just as in the past, original articles and papers will con-
tinue to be presented before various societies and in different technical
and non-technical magazines. Moreover, the Journal will reprint
articles on important research and development work in the communi-
cation field generally so that the results of such work may be given
greater publicity and become of greater value to communication
engineers.